Bell Pepper vs Cucumber – Which is Healthier?

Our Verdict

When comparing bell pepper to cucumber, we picked the bell pepper.

Why?

First, you might remember that different color bell peppers have different nutritional profiles. So, you might be wondering why we didn’t specify the color. The reason is: the things that differ from one color to another are important differences between the respective bell peppers, but they make no difference to this comparison, as for any given nutrient that changes from one color to another, it doesn’t change whether or not it beats cucumber (in fact, for all the things that change, the weakest bell pepper for each one still beats cucumber).

Now, let’s get down to it:

In terms of macros, bell pepper has nearly 4x the fiber for only slightly more carbs, winning this round.

In the category of vitamins, bell pepper has more of vitamins A, B1, B3, B6, B9, C, and E, while cucumber has more of vitamins B5 and K, making a compelling 7:2 victory for bell peppers here.

Looking at minerals, bell pepper has more copper, iron, manganese, and potassium, while cucumber has more calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, selenium, and zinc, so cucumber scores a win in this round.

When it comes to other considerations, bell peppers have more polyphenols and an impressive array of carotenoids (not technically polyphenols, but fulfil a similar function), while cucumber has some anti-inflammatory properties of its own (see links below for details). We could call this a tie, or possibly a win for bell peppers depending on how we want to weight things in this round.

Whatever we do with that last category, adding up the sections still gives an overall win for bell peppers, but by all means enjoy either or both; diversity is good!

Want to learn more?

You might like:

• Which Bell Peppers To Pick? A Spectrum Of Specialties ← for the differences between the different colors
• Cucumber Extract Beats Glucosamine & Chondroitin… At 1/135th Of The Dose?!

Enjoy!